These lessees are usually speculators, who divide and sub-let the estate.
With other outlying islands Aldabra is held under lease from the Seychelles government, the lessees having exclusive trading privileges.
Although Macao is de facto a colonial possession of Portugal, the Chinese government persistently refused to recognize the claim of the Portuguese to territorial rights, alleging that they were merely lessees or tenants at will, and until 1849 the Portuguese paid to the Chinese an annual rent of X71 per annum.
It is that the government acting for the people, who are the real owners of all public property, shall permanently retain the fee in public lands, leaving their products to be developed by private capital under leases which are limited in their duration and which give the government complete power to regulate the industrial operations of the lessees.
In 1797 the state leased the lands, the lessees paying a royalty of 4 cents per bushel and being forbidden to charge more than 60 cents per bushel.
